Reader comments

I largely agree, I do think pride will continue, and I do think gay bars will continue. I mean which year will people say “Ok, that’s enough pride, we don’t need it anymore”? Even as a celebration of historic achievements rather than as a protest it’ll continue in some form.

I agree that one we will post-gay. But that does not mean we all become bisexual. In fact, on a post-gay world, it is only the presence of at least SOME gay people can bring any meaning to post-gay (or any other term meaning the lack of distinction). Tatchell might be right about many things on human rights but being gay is not just a social construction.

The Pride parades are, I think, different depending on which city they are in. The one in Brighton & Hove is very celebratory, it is about fun. The Brighton & Hove one is very regulated, you can’t just join it and walk along or anything.

I was there last year with a friend from France and she was expecting something more political and disappointed by the Pride parade in Brighton & Hove.

I have a great love of the carnivals in some latin countries. The one in Tenerife in February is fantastic and well worth going to. I think that British society benefits very well from having an opportunity to loosen up and have fun. I could see some of the Pride events morphing into something like the latin carnivals over time.

and so say all of us tra la! Mr Thatchell I salute you for fighting the good fight – it’s not over until it’s over, and I fear there will always be bigotry and fear to some degree, particularly if the organised religions have their way.
All the more reason to keep on trucking…(or somesuch thing).

Peter Tatchell: In a queer-friendly society, the differences between homo and hetero lose their significance. When no one cares who is gay and who is straight, there will be no point in maintaining a distinction between the two sexualities. Labelling people and behaviour becomes irrelevant. The movement becomes redundant.

I think Peter is looking for a utopia (or eutopia) that will never happen (or at least not in our lifetime). Besides there are a few incongruities in his argument:

“At this pace of progress, in the long term, homophobic prejudice and discrimination are doomed.”

He’s being very Western-centric. What about GLBT people in Muslim countries or even in fundamentalist States in the USA?

“It is then that the LGBT community will face an unexpected challenge.”

Again, he’s out of touch in some ways – this ‘challenge’ has been met and dealt with in a few Western nations such as Holland and Canada where GLBT rights are well established and where the GLBT community still has a strong identity – an identity mainly composed of reaching out and supporting GLBT communities and individuals in other places around the world. Gay Romeo based in Holland for instance supports GLBT organisations in Arab countries and provides financial support to ‘Church-run’ AIDS hospices. In the ‘gay village’ of Toronto there are advocacy groups that help gay asylum seekers and teenage gays – many of whom still need help if they are from religiously zealous families.

“In a queer-friendly society, the differences between homo and hetero lose their significance.”

Why does a society need to be labelled ‘queer-friendly’ unless there are queer-unfriendly societies – which there are…plenty of them…and as long as they exist…in any part of the world…then there needs to be a GLBT community identity to help our friends in those societies.

“[A] world beyond gay and straight” will never happen as long as there are people who cling to religious doctrines, beliefs and traditions that condemn homosexuality.

Homophobic hate crime, school bullying, religious intolerance, anti-gay press, football, blood transfusion, marriage, government census…….a few of the many areas discrimination against gay people is very much alive and kicking. The road is a long one and we still have a long journey ahead.

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